U.S. actor David Duchovny was caught in the Russian conflict with Ukraine last night after appearing in a Siberian beer commercial.

The 53-year-old star of X-Files and Californication has been praised and criticised in equal measure after backing the Russian-made beer despite admitting he has Ukrainian origins.

'There is another country, where I got my family name from, and sometimes I wonder, what if things turned out differently, what if I were Russian?' the actor says in the video ad posted Friday on YouTube.

Advocate: David Duchovny, of X-Files fame, has been attacked for plugging a Russian beer in a TV advert

What if? The advert imagines Duchovny's life if he grew up in Russia rather than the United States

'Being Russian, I'd have many things to be proud of,' he concludes as he promotes popular Russian beer Sibirskaya Korona - or Siberian Crown - brewed in Omsk.

On another planet? High-ranking Russian politicians have praised the advert for the 'love' it shows

Bizarre: The advert puts Duchovny in a variety of odd guises, which critics say is inappropriate given the political situation Russia is in

Yesterday 13 children including two children were killed in fighting which derailed hopes by the West to send its own police force to the site of the shot-down jet, to secure the site as a crime scene.

The move comes amid accusations - strongly denied - that Russia is behind tampering of evidence at the site.

Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian deputy prime minister who is also in charge of the Russian defence industry, said of the Duchovny ad: 'If you forget about what it is advertising, as a whole it's made with love.'

Yet a Rusisan newsreader rebuked him for appearing in the ad to be of Russian roots after his claim about being partly Ukrainian.

Out in the cold: Duchovny, who recently discovered Ukrainian roots, has had a frosty reception for the ad

A U.S. news site attacked his 'poorly timed, nationalistic ad' released soon after the plane was downed allegedly by pro-Russian rebels using missiles provided by Moscow.

A Ukrainian comment read: 'He should make up his mind which side he's on in this conflict.'

'Has David Duchovny gone completely mad? Maybe he'll be next to get a (Russian) passport after Gerard Depardieu,' added Twitter user, Tatyana Samosudova.

Depardieu gained Russian citizenship last year from 'friend' Vladimir Putin and has since promoted a bank and a kitchen chain .

On his paternal side Duchovny is Jewish from a family that previously lived in Ukraine and Poland. His mother hailed from Scotland.